Gibraltar goes into total covid lockdown and eight municipalities of the Campo de Gibraltar are confined

The new “English variant” has been detected in six regions of Spain including Andalucía

Although the number of cases of what is being referred to in the Spanish media as the “English variant” of coronavirus( the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant)is still fairly low, it has now been detected in six regions of Spain, including the capital Madrid, and the health authority anticipates that the number of cases identified will rise significantly in the coming days.

One case of the variant was identified in Gibraltar during November and the British Colony is currently experiencing a strong surge of new cases, which is believed to be as a result of the spread of the new variant; on Saturday Governor Fabian Picardo announced that the colony would be put into a total lockdown for 14 days after detecting 973 active cases in a population of 34,000 inhabitants, when 15 days ago it only had 60 positives.” The virus is propagating more quickly than we can control it,” he said.

On Saturday afternoon the Comité de Alertas de Cádiz and the Junta de Andalucía regional Government agreed to the immediate perimeter closure of the eight municipalities included within the Campo de Gibraltar East and West health areas, as the 14 day accumulated incidence rate per 100,000 inhabitants had risen to 316 cases compared to the Andalusian average of 140, making these areas a focal point for contagions.

These are the municipalities of La Línea de la Concepción, Algeciras, Los Barrios, Castellar de la Frontera, Jimena de la Frontera, San Martín del Tesorillo, San Roque and Tarifa.

It is difficult to view this concentration of contagions as being a co-incidence when practically all of the more than 10,000 Spanish cross-border workers in the colony come from these municipalities, crossing the border between “the Rock” where they work and the Spanish mainland where they live on a daily basis.

At the moment only seven confirmed cases of the new variant have been found in Andalucía, including one confirmed case in this area, but Jesús Aguirre, regional minister for health and families, maintains that this measure is "necessary as a containment in the area and as a precautionary principle to avoid an exponential growth in the coming days that could directly affect the healthcare pressure" in the region.

Madrid detects nine cases of the new variant and has another 30 under study
The Ministry of Health of the Community of Madrid has confirmed a total of nine positive cases of the B.1.1.7- strain in the region and is studying a further 30 tests.

Deputy Minister of Public Health and the Covid-19 Plan, Antonio Zapatero, the regional Minister of Health, Enrique Ruiz Escudero, and the general director of Public Health, Elena Andradas, Zapatero , gave a press conference on Saturday, and explained that they have already drawn up an early detection plan for this new variant, recognising that there is "a high level of transmission in the Community."

Rather than waiting until the end of the holidays to tighten confinements in the region, the Madrid Government has decided to extend mobility restrictions to eight new basic health areas and five localities, so that from Monday onwards, a total of 18 basic health areas and five municipalities in the region entry and exit will be prohibited from them other than for justified reasons.